If you offer an on-site service business, you are probably plaqued with the hassels of invoicing and receiving payments.  Many electricians, plumbers and service technicians that perform house calls usually leave behind a hand-written bill or have their book keeper mail the customer a printed invoice.  Then, they have to wait… sometimes for months… to get paid for that service.  What if you could accept a credit card payment while still on site, and have the invoice emailed to the customer.  Well – you can!

There are several new mobile payment processing services that will do just that.  At the time I am writing this article, the four main players are Intuit GoPayment, PayAnywhere, Sail and Square.  I have not tried any of these services yet, so I do not recommend one over the other… but the details look interesting.  Basically it starts by adding a card swipe device to your smart phone (usually provided for free) and installing the associated app on your phone. For the most part, it seems that none of them charge a monthly fee – just a pay-per-use type of service – and the rates are competitive at around 2.7%.

The software allows you to generate the invoice with the details and pricing that you want, and then you swipe the credit card through the provided scanner, the client enters their PIN or signs on the screen (if you have a touch screen phone) and once the payment has been processed, you can email them a copy of the invoice and the payment receipt.  Each company also has a secure login area on the website that will allow you to view all the transactions – something your book keeper will love!

I think I might sign up and give it a try!